A New Life
by World's Best Idler
Summary: Teenager Bella Swan has her world turned up-side-down when her all too ordinary life is ripped from her. She now has to re-discover her identity with a clean slate, a new family and friends and perhaps some romance on the horizon
1. Chapter 1

"...and now year 10s, off you go. Have a nice break. See you all next term." Every student in my year rises as one at the dismissal and pushes out of the assembly hall.

The ecstatic atmosphere is practically tangible. With only several days till we break up and the weather becoming progressively nicer, we are all living on sunshine and the desperate countdown till summer.

I'm calm though, and avoid most of rushing tornados that are my classmates as I move towards the doors. I prefer to take my time whether possible. Of course, it means that I get pushed and shoved a lot, but I just nod my head at the apologies and continue my stroll.

"Bella!" I have a hand pulling me along almost as soon as I'm out. "How is it that you're _always _the last one out?" I only have time to register that all my friends are already gathered around us before Mackenzie is in my face, demanding an answer. Mackenzie is probably the most impatient person I know. She is also my best friend. I smile at her hostile tone.

"Maybe it's because I wait my turn rather than just pushing my way through?"

She rolls her eyes. "Whatever. C'mon, we need to get food and go outside, before out spot is taken, _again._" By our 'spot' she means the space at least half the length of a football pitch where we always sit. There has been a Year 7 invasion recently, but our guys took care of it nicely by aiming every ball they owned in the kids' direction. Not that I approved of violence. But it is our spot. And I don't like any changes to our routine.

So I tell her to chill, which earns me another eye roll and a shove in the direction of the food stalls.

Before we get there though, Mackenzie is forcefully ripped from my side and a big male hand replaces it. I know that hand well.

"Oliver," I greet him, not looking in his direction but smiling nonetheless.

Oliver is my other best friend, and one of the only people who have been a near constant in my life. We were buddies since baby prams, and it was only a good word from his parents that landed me in this British boarding school with Oliver, beginning of Year 7. We dated briefly in Year 8, back when he was the 'cool' guy and I was the cool girl by his side. It ended with the impending summer holidays—after months of holding hands and awkward almost kisses, Oliver and I made the very adult decision to put an end to our puppy love. Oliver came back in September looking fabulously gay and with holiday adventures featuring guys rather than girls. It's that twist of Oliver's genes, really, that allowed us to remain close.

"Guess what, Bella!" He gushes, even more excited than usual. _That _makes me look.

"No...No. he asked you?" Now my tone matches his. Oliver has been after this one guy for ages, though I doubted that Carl was even into other men. Apparently, I was mistaken.

"Why sound so surprised? Is that really so surprising?"

"No! I mean, of course not, congratulations!"

The rest of my lunch I spend listening to the outline of Oliver's and Carl's conversation. The minute detail which Oliver memorised is staggering.

"...and we have a date! This Friday! Bella, I am so excited, like I can't wait—"

He is interrupted by the bell calling us to fifth period. I am beyond happy, since Oliver more or less talked my ear off.

"Whoops, that time for us to go. Good for you though. Mackenzie!" I call over for her to wait for me. She and Oliver have never been close, despite their connections to me. When Mackenzie arrived in Year 9 with the whole wave of students sent to England to study their GCSE's, out immediate friendship made Oliver more than a little jealous. Things haven't changed much since. It's a difficult relationship but not one that I dwell on too often.

After all, it is only one more comfortable constant in my life.

The rest of the week is full of studying and exams and it flies by surprisingly fast, considering my impatience.

Friday is the last day before the school break and after a goodbye to my friends, I am looking forward to spending my free week chilling with some family in Devon. My bags are all packed and ready and all I'm doing now is babysitting my youngest sister, Chloe and waiting for my parents to return from their day out so my dad can drive me out to the country.

My other sister, Arianna, is keeping me company, chatting idly about the state of my hair while taking selfies on her phone and texting her friends. I always admired her vanity as well as her ability to multitask, but not in a mean way. Both traits have come to my aid on several occasions in the past so I can only be grateful. She promises to make me an appointment with the hairdresser after I come back. I would be lost without her.

Mackenzie and I send texts back and forth and I'm paying little attention to Chloe. She is her usual calm self, making a bodged construction out of big baby building blocks and watching Lazy Town on TV.

My phone rings. It's Oliver. I turn the volume of the TV down.

"Hello?" I say to the speaker.

"Bella, hi." Oliver sounds kinda troubled. The kind of troubled that says I-need-something-from-you. Great

"Hey Oliver! What's up?" Chloe gets up from the floor and walks over to Arianna and points to the TV. Arianna shakes her head mutely, puts her finger to her lips in a hushing gesture and directs Chloe to me. I shake my head at her and put Oliver on speaker, already anticipating Chloe's baby speech.

"Well, you know how I said I'm having a date tonight?"

"Yeah?"

"Well, Carl said to bring a friend, to make it less formal, you know. I thought that maybe you could come along." Carl is the current fixation of Oliver's dreams, and apparently, I am once again being invited to join him on date as the third wheel. It has been a constant occurrence, ever since Oliver moved two doors down from us a year ago or so. This doesn't, however, mean that I have come to like it any more over time.

"Up." Chloe tells me, pointing to the TV. I shake my head at her.

"Oliver, why? Can't you, like, make it romantic and all, just the two of you? I'm going away tonight."

Chloe takes hold of my phone, whinging. "Wait a second, babe. Let me finish this." I tell her. She only holds my phone tighter. I pull to get it out of her grasp, but she holds onto it with surprising firmness.

"That's what I said as well. You know I was after this guy for ages, all I want is some time alone. But he already invited a friend of his and they're both older than me and I need some support. Please, Bella..."

Chloe starts to cry and Oliver has to almost shout to be heard over her cries. Arianna tries to get Chloe away from me but she holds onto the skirt I'm wearing and tugs with one hand, the other hand still having a steady hold on my phone.

"Up, up up!" She screams at me.

"Oliver wait, a second—Chloe baby, please wait. I'll give you a lolly later okay?" I say in what I hope is quiet but authoritive voice. Though I can already see that it isn't going to work. She continues to cry and scream. "Arianna can you lift her? I'm gonna go upstairs—okay OIiver, what were you—" I start but I never get to finish because Arianna picks Chloe up and away from me, Chloe takes my phone with her and lobs it across the room to hit the wall.

I watch it sail through the air, still hearing Oliver speak until the screen goes black and the sound stops on the impact.

"No!" I run to pick up my precious treasure, but the screen of my iPhone is all smashed up and it doesn't want to turn on.

"Ah, shit." I sit back on the sofa and press the power button again and again, trying in vain to resurrect the dead electronics. I pick up the remote and turn the sound back on the TV, which makes Chloe calm almost instantly. Arianna sets her down, sits next to me and inspects my phone with me.

"I think it's reached its end." She says eventually. I don't reply to useless things so I stay silent. The only sound in the room now is Stephanie singing in her annoying voice. That is, until the telephone rings in the hallway.

"That's Oliver again." I guess out loud and sigh. I'm a little annoyed at everyone. The land line rings a few times, then stops.

"You know, maybe you should just go. He sounds quite desperate." Arianna doesn't often get involved in my friends' affairs, but when she does it's usually good to listen to her. I put my face in my hands.

"But I don't want to go." I whine.

"C'mon Bells. Go and make yourself all pretty and go. It might be fun. The other guy might be hot."

"The other guy might be _gay._" I counter her. I like Arianna. We laugh together, even though it's not that funny. We're great like that.

"All right, I'll go. Can I borrow your phone? Mine is... well, yeah. Is it even insured?"

"Yeah it is. But my phone is dead. Soz."

The universe _clearly _doesn't want me to go. I sigh again, heavily, but one look from Arianna makes me get up.

"Alright, I'll just go without."

It takes me around half an hour to get ready and get to the restaurant that Oliver mentioned, which means that I am almost twenty minutes late. Still, I stand in front of the building, waiting to see if the others are gonna show up. They don't, and eventually I deduce that they're already inside, and turn to go in.

"Bella!" Someone calls, just as I'm at the door. I turn, but don't see anyone I know. Well, Bella is a common enough name. I shrug and start to walk again just as a guy waves at me, running in my direction.

I'm fairly sure that I haven't seen him before, and yet his eyes are fixed on my face and he obviously recognises me.

"Bella, hi." He says once he gets to my side. He is tall, skinny, dressed in a polo shirt, jeans and vans. Looks to be around nineteen or twenty. He has an Americana accent, that more subtle, New York-ish one. I eye him sceptically. "Um, you don't know me, but hi. I'm J." I continue to watch him. "You know. Carl's friend." He clarifies.

Phew, okay, not a random creep. I brighten up a little and let my shoulders relax. It's not like I have guys like him approach me every day...

"Hi! Nice to meet you." Years of living in England have taught me that hands should not be shaken, so I keep mine to the sides and smile up at J. His hands are in his pockets.

"Should we go in?" I ask.

"Oh, no. This isn't where we're eating anymore. There was a change of plan, and they sent me to get you."

"What, now?"

J nods his head. I narrow my eyes.

"Why?"

J shrugs his shoulders.

"Love?" That's a question, too, and I want to smile, but I don't because I still don't have confidence the guy I've only just met.

"Wait. Let me check the reservations here first." I'm not about to trust a total stranger, which J is, even if I do now know his name.

Inside, the restaurant is all dimmed lights and summer warmth and quiet music. It's small and cozy and miniature decorative bells chime as I open the door. Standing by the nearest empty table is a black haired waitress, smiling at me as I approach her. Before I'm halfway there though, the bells chime again and I turn to see J come in, going after me in a long, confident stride. I stifle a shiver at the unpleasant feeling I get on the back of my neck and cover the rest of the distance to the waitress. I am very aware of the fact that J gets there only a second after I do, and that he's more or less prying into what I'm saying.

"Hi, I think there was a reservation made here, for four, under the name... Abano? Or Youssaf. One of these two."

The waitress is still smiling prominently, her eyes skipping from me to J and back.

"All right, let me just check. I'll be right back." She goes off to check the system and I stand there with J.

"Why don't you just call Oliver and ask him?" J asks.

I'm about to answer, but then I hesitate. I'm reluctant to tell him that I am currently phone deprived. So I deflect his question with one of my own.

"Why did you follow me in? Why not just wait outside?" _You creep._

J just looks at me weird and shakes his head without answering. I sigh in frustration.

We stand in silence and I look around me. The modern building in which this restaurant is situated in no way reflects its interior. It's all timber wood and candles and old fashioned menu designs. Not at all Oliver's style. Why did they pick this in the first place? I frown.

"What is it?" J asks and I'm only a little bit surprised to find that he was watching me. Now it's my turn to shake my head, and J's turn to sigh at me.

The waitress comes back a minute later, a smile still plastered to her face. Or maybe that's just her normal facial expression. It doesn't look unnatural, like my smile surely does over my unease.

"I'm sorry to say that there are no reservations under either of these names. Should I find you a table now?"

I look over at J who is smirking at me with a superior look in his eyes.

"No thank you." I say, annoyed but a little bit relieved to clear J's name, so to speak. "Um, bye." I leave with J on my heels, the waitress's goodbye's and have a good day's following behind us.

Why is Oliver doing this?

"My car is this way." J says smugly. It's getting dark outside, despite the time of the year. It's also getting kinda cold. I shiver, but follow.

"So where are Oliver and Carl now?" I ask.

"Um, a restaurant in Gloucester. It's not that far. Despite the show you put on back there, we might actually make it the time I said we would, if we hurry."

J takes out a car key and I watch as an Audi with dark tinted windows bleeps to life. Even the driver's side window is tinted and in the impending darkness, very little is visible through it. How peculiar.

I sit in the front seat and put my seat belts on just as J sits in the driver's seat, puts the car into gear and peels put of the parking.

I hold onto my seat.

"Is there really a need to drive like a bat out of hell?" I feign nonchalance while really feeling my heart beat in my throat. Daddy never drives this fast, and neither does Mother. I don't drive. I think my stomach was left there somewhere, some hundred meters back.

"Do you have your phone on you?" J asks instead of answering me, looking at me for only a second before looking back at the road. And rightly so. At the rate he's going, we're gonna total someone's car soon.

"Why?"

"To call Carl and Oliver. Tell them we're on our way."

Right, of course.

"Sorry, no. I don't have my phone on me."

J nods his head at this, but makes no move to take out his own phone to call.

"So? Aren't you gonna call them?"

J takes a deep breath. "No need. They know they aren't coming." There is a minute pause as I let that sink in, along with my stomach. Shit, what is this? "You see, we had to have a carefully thought out plan to get to you. Charlie and Renee Swan are too smart for your good. We had to be smarter. So we got to you in a runabout way, through your friends. As you can see, it was a success." Silence falls as I try to collect my thoughts.

"What are you _talking about._" Is this some kind of joke? "Did someone put you up to this? One of my friends?"

He laughs. "No, Bella, your life isn't just a joke. And you'll find that out soon. As soon as we can get you home."

I think I'm hyperventilating. My head is spinning and my breaths are coming and going in shallow pants. "You're... you're _kidnapping me_?" I ask, perhaps a stupid question but I really have trouble thinking.

J laughs at a maniac, which is the scariest this which he has done so for. "Kidnap? No, Bella, I'm taking you to your real family. To your real life."

**Hi! So, this is the remake of the story, and what do you think? Just an intro of sorts for now, though the story might not really pick up for the next few chapters still. But it is worth sticking round to find out for yourself. **

**I'll be waiting for follows, favourites and comments, if you do like the story. I'd REALLY like that review along with a follow, please. **

**So... If I do get reviews, I'll post the new chapter, which is already written and ready to go. It's up to you. **

**Thank you for reading and take care, **

**AmeliaJasmine**


	2. Chapter 2

That's when the idea of struggle first crosses my mind. Before, I thought that J was a little weird, perhaps slightly psychotic. He didn't really do much to make me feel that way, but I guess that inside me, some unrecognised instinct was always suspicious of J, always doubting his good intentions. And now I'm gonna get done for not listening to that voice. But then again, is it really my fault that I didn't anticipate this? What are the chances of this happening? Of me, going out by myself, without a phone, with no way to communicate, only to get kidnapped?

But that doesn't matter. I'm here now. What I need to work on is getting out.

I feel a strange calm spreading over me. From years of getting into trouble with all kinds of higher authorities, I recognise it as shock and know that I need to act fast, before it takes hold of me completely. Already I can feel my heart beating somehow deeper, my head getting fuzzy. I recognise that for me, there is exactly one exit from the scene. And that's through the door of the speeding car.

I move to open the passengers door, only to find my movement stopped by something. I look down slowly to see what's gripping me. The seatbelt. Of course. I need to undo it. J is silent, still speeding down the near empty roads leading further away from the city centre, each time on an amber light, and I know that he will act very quickly once he catches on to what I'm doing.

Slowly, I trace my hand from where the seatbelt is digging into my shoulder to the clasp. I breathe deeply, and steal a look at J every few seconds. He looks back at me every so often, too, but he doesn't seem suspicious. Some good kidnapper he is; obviously hasn't seen any movies that _I've _seen. Here I am, sitting in the front seat of a car, where I could do pretty much anything.

Well, except for getting away without a scratch.

I'll _have_ to jump. There is no other option. He's driving too fast for me to hit him on the head with the fire extinguisher—which I can feel under my left foot, on the left hand side by the door—and not crash into anything, possibly getting me killed.

Jumping will definitely be less risky.

I think.

I wait a few minutes more, thinking. It would be a safer landing for me if I waited until the car moved past the city limits and into the moors—as I could see we were heading for—but what would I do then? I needed the crowds on the sidewalk to help me get away.

I'm struggling to decide, my fear telling me to just wait and see what happens, to not jump at all. But I have to, to get back to safety. Now or later? Now or...

Before I make up my mind, it's too late, we're out of the town and I need to get out fast.

I count to three in my head. One...two...three... I swiftly undo my seat belt, loop my arms through it and move to the door.

"What are you doing?" J asks, sounding surprised but panicked, just as I pull on the handle and open the door.

The car wavers, as J reaches for me and catches my arm in the second when I'm staring down at the fast moving ground, realising the enormity of what I'm about to do. Some of the shock ebbs away and is replaced by horrible clarity which allows me to see every small crack in the asphalt. Oh my god. I can't chicken out. I can't.

"Slow the car down." My voice sounds choked. J complies, out of fear I think, but I can't be sure. I don't turn to check. I move my legs to the side, bracing myself in hopes of at least making it to the shallow ditch on the side of the road upon my jump.

"Bella, don't do this." J's hand tightens on my arm. I breathe in, then breathe out. Then I repeat. There is no adrenaline. I don't think I can do this. "Let me explain."

Breathe in. Breathe out. I close my eyes.

"No." I refuse to listen. I need to get home.

I jump.

The car screeches to a stop and hits the curb and a car behind us beeps long and loud. Someone shouts at us. I'm not quite sure what's going on as my mind blacks out in the few seconds during and after my jump.

I don't know why.

I open my eyes slowly and asses my situation. My feet hurt and so does my head. I move my limbs experimentally. It all seems to work fine.

And I'm out. Highly uncomfortable but free.

I look around myself and feel my eyes fill up with hopeless tears.

I'm not out. I didn't make it.

I am half in and half out of the car, my feet almost touching the ground but my back and head still on the seat, J's hand round my upper arm, rooting me in place. This is too much. I am definitely in shock now, and the deafening denseness in my head, I feel somewhat detached. Scared, confused and unable to think straight, the first tears are followed by many others.

"Bella," J's voice is muffled by the sound of the blood in my ears. Reminding myself of how vulnerable I must look, I attempt to stop the tears from flowing. But I can't even get my breathing under control. "Don't you ever do that again. Come on. Inside." He drags me in, firmly, a hand around both my arms.

"NO," I choke out but as he lifts me my feet automatically start to walk me backwards, right into the car. My head hurts. I think I hit it on something. The brake, maybe. The pain is quickly lost though.

I still haven't accomplished what I actually tried to do in the first place; get away.

The cars which are driving down the motor way are all making an arch to avoid us, some beeping in distaste, but no one stops to help.

"No, let me go." I move to the door again, trying to walk out even though my feet hurt like hell and I can feel them more with each passing second. My vision goes blurry and I feel sick.

"Bella, are you hurt?" I don't reply, only hold J's arm and struggle with him, trying and stop him as his hand moves over me and closes the door. I can feel a faint click and then the door doesn't want to open.

I sob, once, then work on stopping the next sob from coming.

"Let me go." Despite my best effort I sob again and throw my weight against the door, again and again, all the fight that has deserted me earlier now coming back.

_When it's too late for it... _ a part of my mind tells me in a monotone but I ignore it.

"_Let me go let me go let me go!_" I pound my fists on the dark window, elbowing it and pulling hard on the handle. J reaches over once but I scratch his arm from the elbow to the wrist and then he moves out of the line of fire.

Wimp.

"Let. Me. Go." God, I am crying so hard and though I'm trying to sound demanding it all comes out weak and vulnerable.

"Bella, calm down. You need to talk to me. Are you hurt?" I don't look, don't really listen, just continue with my desperate task of getting the door open. That small part in the back of my brain knows that it is hopeless and yet I can't stop.

"Goddammit Bella! Are you hurt?! Your father will kill me! Just..." His voice fades away, his hands stopping midway through brushing his hair back as he registers the fact that I suddenly stopped. Stopped everything. Frozen. "Are you hurt?" he asks again.

_Yes. _I shake my head no.

"What do you mean? That thing about my... about my father...?"

"What? Oh, literally what I say. I am taking you to your father. Okay?"

I feel sick. Physically sick, this time, my throat feeling all blocked up. J is working for someone. He obviously isn't talking about my _dad. _That would make this whole thing completely pointless, unnecessarily messy. No, he is working for someone who calls themselves my _father _and orders my kidnap. Maybe that makes sense, but I didn't stop to consider it long enough, the fact that J might not be working alone. Shit.

"I need to get out. I'm gonna be sick."

J's face changes from one of worry to one of panic, as he realises that I'm serious.

I pull on the handle of the door once more, but it's still locked.

"_Open the dammned door!" _ I put my hand over my mouth, my stomach heaving.

The window rolls down sluggishly. I put my hand in the gap, but it doesn't make it open any faster. This will have to do. I lean over and take a big gulp of air, and again, drinking it all in and swallowing down on the feeling of sickness, hoping it will go away. I feel like shit, but eventually the wave of nausea subdues slightly. I hold onto the door frame for dear life.

"Bella," J speaks calmer now. "We have an aeroplane waiting. We need to get there now, or it's going to be out of schedule. I'm gonna drive okay?"

It's not okay.

"Where is the aeroplane going?"

J starts the car once more, and I move my face to the wind the movement induces. I feel a bit better now, though still shocked and cold. And tired. So, so tired.

"Seattle, in US. That's where your family lives. Well, right now they actually live in a small town called Forks, some distance from Seattle, but their main residence—your main residence—is in the city. You'll like it, you'll see. It's grand."

He looks at me. I stare back.

"America. You think you're talking me to America. Via an aeroplane. Seriously?"

"Yes."

I laugh.

And then I cry again, although those are tears of relief and hope.

There is no way that I will be allowed on the aeroplane, now without my consent, without my passport and without my parents' permission. I am saved.

"Should I tell you about your family then? Explain the whole thing to you? You must be confused." Oh, J, that's because you are confusing. A master mind on one hand, a total idiot on the other.

"How far to the airport?"

He smiles at the not very well disguised glee in my voice, but he misinterprets it, obviously.

"An hour also. We're leaving from Bristol."

I nod my head. An hour. I can wait that long. J is driving and nothing should happen. My legs still hurt though. And so does my head. In fact, my head hurts more. So much more. And I'm tired. But I shouldn't sleep here, I should keep my eyes open and watching the road, just in case we aren't going to the airport at all, and I'll have to retrace our journey.

But without my permission my eyes close and my head lolls. I'm almost asleep when J speaks.

"I, put your seat belt on." I'm not so far gone that I'm confused about where I am. Well, any more confused than I was before.

I put my seatbelt on, then look out the window. I don't want to sleep. But it's been a long day, and all the fighting and struggle and the pain in my head is making me drowsy. My eyes start to close again. A few times I am jerked awake by the movement of the Audi, each time searching for the clock on the dashboard but my eyes never make it that far before they close again. The sleep eventually pulls me under.

"Bella, we're here."

No.

I wake slowly, with the feeling that I didn't have nearly enough sleep. My head is pounding with pain, like I'm dehydrated, but worse. It hurts to open my eyes, but I still remember where I am and what's happening so I groan, then look around me. I'm in a car. The Audi. J is sitting next to me, watching me as I wake up. My head hurts even more than before.

"We're here?" my voice is hoarse.

"Yes." J reaches for a bottle of water and hands it to me. I refuse it, even though I am thirsty.

"Let's go then." I undo my seatbelts and ever so slowly stumble my way out of the car.

I'm hurt and I'm homesick. I long for the view visible through my bedroom's partly shuttered windows, the comfy couches with the cushions I made as part of the school's sewing workshop in my first year in England, for Chloe's warm, babyish smell. I want mum to stand over me and fuss and tell me to lie down. I want it all soon. I groan again and stand by J on his side of the car, composing my face carefully into a mask empty of all emotions.

It's dark. We are parked a huge parking lot, with hundreds of cars parked on either side. Despite this, it is quite empty here, and quiet. Like it always is, at night. There is an older couple getting their bags out of the boot some hundred feet down the line, their voices hushed and their faces hidden in the shadow of the systematically placed street lamps. It's also cold. I shiver. I can see the headlights of other cars as they move about, and the red-and-while gate lifting and dropping next to the guard's little office. But no one to come to my aid. Yet.

"Come on, it's this way." J touches my arm to stir me in the right direction. I shy away from the contact. My head hurts and I'm cold and though I'm supposed to be fighting J, I'm a bit slow to do this. I feel weak. I know that if I tried to run I wouldn't make it further than a few feet.

And J is confusing. He's pointing me the wrong way. I've been here before, and even if I haven't, the bus stop is clearly labelled and lighted. That's the direction we should be going in to get to the airport.

"We're going the wrong way." I say out loud in my hoarse, croaky voice. J looks at me, and I think its confusion I see in his eyes.

"No, the car is waiting for us there," He points ahead of us. "That's the direction we need to go in."

"There's a car waiting for us? Why not just..." Oh. I guess he's right, I _could _scream for help. I probably would, given the chance.

"Yeah. There's a private jet waiting for us, we don't need to go through the control. The car will take us straight to the tarmac."

I nod.

Then what J said registers in my mind, a bit slower than usual due to my grogginess.

"_Wait, what?_" I stop dead. Oh my god. This cannot be happening.

"What, what do you mean?"

God, J doesn't even get it. What a moron.

But he's a moron that I need to get away from. I look to where the couple were standing a minute ago. Their bags in hands now, they are making their way to the bus stop where a few more people are waiting. I could make it there. No problem; I run fast.

Except that J has longer legs that most of the girls I have raced and won against, and my head weighs a hundred pounds and my legs hurt deep in my bones.

I could always scream.

I look at J. Okay, maybe I can hold off with the screaming for now.

"We're taking a jet, a private jet. To America. To my family."J nods his head and smiles at me sheepishly. I tilt my head to the side, my face composed to form a neutral expression but inside I am getting ready to make an escape once more. The odds are not in my favour. But hell, he's serious about the whole kidnap thing, and if I was not so tired I would be really, really scared.

"Let's go then."I say to J, because he is waiting for me and I need his attention to be diverted before I run.

He motions me to go before him. Dammit. I look to the bus stop again longingly then walk, limping with J, hoping that I'll get my chance soon.

I look at the ground as I pass him, and once again notice his shoes. He's wearing vans. His left shoe shoelace is undone. My heart beats faster, like, for real.

"J, your shoe is undone."

"What? Oh, right. Thanks." He bends down to do his shoelaces.

I hesitate for a moment but this time adrenaline pumps through my bloodstream and my vision becomes clearer, my actions bolder. I push J over so he loses his balance and falls and then I run. I run as fast as I can, then even faster as I hear J shout "Hey" and grab for my legs, slowing me by just a second. I hear his footsteps as he races after me.

"Help, please help me, please, please help!" I scream at the top of my lungs, my voice carrying over the silence of the night, bouncing off all the metal of the cars and easily carrying over to the bus stop. People turn and stare but no one comes to my aid immediately.

I scream again in hopelessness, running a few feet more, before fear spikes through me, as I feel big hands on my waist.

"Stop struggling, stop, stop." J utters in my ear and I don't know how I hear it over my own screams. It's finally having some effect. Two men are coming towards where J and I are struggling while another woman in a straw hat and shorts takes out her phone and dials. This makes me scream louder, my voice now almost gone and becoming unpleasantly shrill.

"Bella, think about what this could do to your family. Stop it." His voice is cold, as cold as I've heard it so far. It takes me a minute but I stop. What does he mean? Does he mean the disappointment it will be for his boss when I'm not delivered to him as planned? Or does he mean _harming my family?! _

I can't take that chance. I become limp and J carries me away over his shoulder, the men going after us too far away to do me any good now. Let's hope that the woman had enough time to call the police.

But as we near the black non-descript car, I find myself caring less and less. The adrenaline burns out of my body, leaving behind only emptiness, the head pain ten-folding. I hold my head and hope that the pulsing will stop.

J sits me in the car and slides in next to me. I scoot over to the far end of the seat and put my head against the window.

"Drive." J says and the nameless, faceless driver pulls away from the curb and in the direction of the tarmac.

It's a short journey, only taking five minutes. I watch the time goes by on the dashboard. It seems like forever though, before we pull up next to a small aeroplane, the smallest one there, among the many other models. Aeroplanes always look so small from the outside, it's comical. It makes me giggle. No one reacts to it.

J opens his door, leaves the car then walks over to my side and pulls me out. I feel so dazed. I walk with J's hand on my arm, ensuring that I don't run but also that I don't fall.

We make it to the jet.

Looking up, I don't think I can make it up the steps.

Halfway up, J picks me up once more and carries me into the cockpit.

There is a stewardess waiting inside.

"...oh dear what happened..."

I try to focus on the speech around me, but it's like I have cotton wool around my ears. And my eyes, too, in actual fact.

"...Screamed...collapsed...concussion..."

I think I'm losing my consciousness but I fight the oblivion.

"...Down... see...takeoff..."

After that, I hear nothing else. And I'm out cold.

**Hey, I'm back with the next chapter. What did you think? **

**So, perhaps I was getting a little bit ambitious, but I was actually hoping for more views and followers for this fanfic. I though that maybe it's because people don't have as much time during the week, so a Friday update would be better. Or maybe this is just a really crappy story, I don't know. **

** Please, follow and review. With emphasis on the review part. Once I get 5 reviews for this chapter I'll put the new one up. See? I'm not even being mean about it. **

**Take care you all and hopefully see you soon, **

**Amelia-Jasmine**


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